Hobbies Are A Must

In the wild Darien jungle country between Panama and Colombia, where once the Spaniards had fought the Indians for gold, the USO workers received one of their unusual requests. The headman at an isolated trading post was a native, not an Indian. He came to see Mr. MacDonald (Director of the USO Pacific Seaboard Outpost Service) early one morning, to ask a big favor. "He had seen me with my camera," Mr. MacDonald related, "and was fascinated with it. His grandchild had died during the night, and he begged us to take a picture of the dead baby before they buried it that morning. Nothing would please him more, as the picture would be the medium by which they would always 'remember' the child! We gladly consented. We could not take a picture of the body in their tiny palm leaf shack, so we had them bring it out in front of their abode. Taking the picture created quite a scene, as all the villagers were on hand to see the job done. We have had many requests in our work, but this was a new one.”

A rough trip on a tuna boat, on which he was the only passenger, to remote islands off the coast of Panama and Central America, unexpectedly gave Mr. MacDonald a chance to complete his collection of reptiles for his jungle talks. The tiny boat passed through a group of islands where the rare and little known sea snakes are found. They are so deadly that the natives are afraid of them, and have a saying: "Picar — muerto" — "Bite—you die." But, the question was, how to catch one?

The skipper of the boat obtained a very long pole to which he secured a number of fish hooks on the end like a grapple. A snake was swimming on the surface just ahead. The skipper slowed down the boat, and as the sea snake continued to sail along in its leisurely fashion, the crew hooked it, and drew it aboard the raft. The serpent was about three feet long. The top of its back was jet black, and the lemon-yellow sides blended into a pretty reddish- yellow on the belly.

What puzzled the USO worker was the fact that this snake did not have conspicuous fangs. Its tail was flat like a rudder and beautifully marked with distinctive yellow and black blotches. The skipper became so interested that he promised to capture more of these for the USO. To men shut off from civilization, and without civilian companionship, hobbies are a "must," to prevent loss of morale and even breakdown. The outpost hobby work of the USO was of vital importance to the war effort, to relieve the stresses of men guarding strategic outposts or performing secret war service.

By: davidbunch

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